Getting ready for school

I formally applied to the Council for Natan’s school place today (although his name’s been down for the school since he was about 6 weeks old!).

This formality was a bit of a milestone.  I can’t believe he’ll be starting Reception Class next September.

He is very excited and can’t wait to go to big school and wear a uniform.  I can’t believe he’s not a baby anymore.  The last four years have just flown by in a flash and here we are counting to 100 and doing our phonics together each evening before bed.

I know I’m going to be a complete mess on his first day of school.

Then all the fun really starts. School holidays. 3.30 pm finishes. Homework. Help…

We did it – Notte Bella: Il Finito

 

I was privileged to be involved in organising the final Appeal Dinner for the New Children’s Hospital on Thursday evening.

It was a truly special night that I’ll remember for a long time. Apart from the success of the event itself and the raft of celebrities (including JLS, Stavros Flatley, Sara Cox, John Thompson, Sam Allardyce, Theo Paphitis, a host of Corrie & Hollyoaks stars  and of course Mark Hughes), we raised a staggering £200,000 on the night itself and reached the £20 million Appeal target.

There was lots of laughter and there were lots of tears and it was a hugely successful evening.  JLS were amazing  (I am now a huge fan.)  and I came over completely stupid when I met Mark Hughes.

After managing to get Cloud 23 at the Hilton to stay open later for the After Show party and a few too many peach bellinis, I finally got to bed at about 4.45 am, after waking the whole house of course and making myself rather unpopular.  It was payback time when Natan jumped into bed at 6.50 am asking for his breakfast.  Ouch.

An afternoon at MCFC with my dad

City just weren’t good enough today.  To be 2-0 up at home and come away with just a point is not acceptable if we are serious about challenging for titles.

It was a strange weekend for results all round, but still we should be winning at home.  (I still can’t decide what’s worse, a smug Liverpool fan or a smug United fan!)

Our defence was a joke. I’m not convinced by Lescott. Richards needs to get real and as for Adebayor, he needs to concentrate on the football and give the diving and the attitude a rest.   He’s not been the same since his ban after the Arsenal debacle.

I enjoyed the outing today as I went to the match with my dad.  It was lovely spending time together.  He’s a Spurs fan so was not best pleased with their defeat to Stoke yesterday, but he had a good afternoon out today with his youngest daughter nonetheless.

Now to host Scunthorpe in the Cup on Wednesday. Oh the glamour!

42 Under 42

Last night was Insider’s annual 42 Under 42  bash.  I am proud to be a member of the class of 2007.

This year’s event was another great evening – well done Northwest Business Insider and Michael Taylor for hosting expertly as always.

Imran Hakim and Keith Curran shared their inspirational stories.

To top off a great night, our table won the quiz!

iNspire, the Charity Incubator

The iNspire website launched this week.

I am proud to be founder Board member of iNspire.  It’s taken us a while to get to this point and many people have worked hard and given a lot of time to help us – you know who you are – thank you.

One of our iNspire charities, the Honeyrose Foundation, was featured on The Secret Millionaire this evening.

This week’s proving to be a particularly tough and emotional one for me.  I’ve had long days and not seen Natan enough.  Seeing Lynn of the Honeyrose tonight though was inspirational and watching people selflessly give of themselves was incredibly humbling and a bit of a reality check.

“There are three constants in life… change, choice and principles.” – Stephen Covey

IoD North West Director of the Year 2009

Last night was my 6th IoD Director of the Year Awards.

It’s always one of my favourite night’s of the year.

It was another great night, another batch of fantastic finalists, another year of catching up with people I’ve not seen for ages and another year of over-indulgence yet again.  It was all in the name of networking of course.

I was offered a lift home at 12.00 am when the formalities were over.  This morning I woke up wishing I’d accepted the lift.  Getting to bed at 3.15 am is not such a good idea on a school night. I’m getting too old for this.

Getting myself ready this morning was struggle enough, but I had to get Natan sorted for nursery too. That’ll teach me. (Probably not.)

Questions from a small boy, aged nearly 4

1. “Grandma, why is there a rainbow coming through the window and onto the floor?”

(Grandpa explains. Mummy would have no idea.)

2. “Mummy, why do I go upside down when I am looking at myself in a spoon and turn it around?”

(I never even knew that happened, did I?)

3. “Mummy, what’s that shape called?”

(It’s got 5 sides and I really can’t remember.)

4. “Mummy, what’s that shape called?”

(It’s got 6 sides and I can’t remember that one either.)

(And then my personal favourite.)

5. “Mummy, what do girls have instead of willies?”

(Oh God. It’s happened.  THAT question.  Off I go to ask daddy what he thinks it’s called.)

(Damn.  I wish I’d paid more attention in science classes.)

Hard working families hit yet again

So, I work on average a 50-60 hour week and my husband puts in a similar working week.  We pay for full-time childcare for our son and have done since I went back to work when he was 5 months old… because I had to, not because I wanted to when he was that young.

Now the government’s plans will hit hardworking families such as ours and for what?  So that we can pay for other people’s kids to go to nursery for ten hours a week?  You almost need a second mortgage to pay full-time nursery fees as it is even if you are so-called “middle income earner”!

So I am to be penalised yet again for working hard to look after my family, paying much of my salary in taxes, paying for private nursery education, paying for private healthcare, and now this.  Maybe I’ll just give it all up, sign on, and claim all the benefits I can.

And sadly and disappointingly, the Tories (in Manchester for their annual Party Conference bash) will do exactly the same thing (as revealed by George Osborne yesterday) unless we all make them realise what a mistake it would be to move forward with this.

There is something about George Osborne.  Maybe it’s how he tried desperately not to smile at the end of his address yesterday that makes me question his honesty and integrity.  (That and meeting him face to face on more than one occassion in the past.)

I think both the Labour Government and the Tories have got this one wrong and underestimated the combined power of the hard-working parents amongst us.

Sign the Downing Street petition here.